Lavatory enclosure-to-toilet device with replaceable cartridge for hygienic support of lowered slacks

ABSTRACT

A slacks valet mechanism, to prevent the slacks of a user of a lavatory stall toilet from becoming soiled by preventing its contact with the floor, includes an arm coupled to the stall door/wall, being movable between stowed and deployed positions. The stowed arm is proximate to the lavatory door, and the deployed arm has a portion proximate to the toilet, to thereon receive the lowered slacks to prevent soiling. A replaceable cartridge is releasably securable to the arm, and includes first and second reels, and a hygienic tape wound upon the first reel with an end fixedly secured to the second reel. The device incrementally advances an outermost portion of the hygienic tape on the first reel onto the second reel, for each cycle of the arm between the deployed and stowed positions, thereby exposing an unused tape portion on the arm for hygienic slacks support.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/794,454, filed on Mar. 11, 2013, which claims priority onU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/685,119, filed on Mar. 12,2012, titled “Lavatory Stall Slack Valet,” and on U.S. ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 61/688,320, filed on May 10, 2012, titled “SlackValet Mechanism For A Lavatory,” with the disclosures of each beingincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to improvements in the use of public restroomtoilets, and more particularly to a means of support that may beinstalled upon the stall door or lavatory wall to be selectivelydeployed to preserve the cleanliness of a user's slacks, by preventingcontact with the floor, when utilizing the toilet therein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many people find using a public restroom to be an unpleasant experience,particularly with respect to the potential for unsanitary conditionstherein. There have been many inventions devised to help improve thoseconditions, such as the disposable paper toilet seat covers that areoften provided in a dispenser within the stall. However, no suchprotection has been devised to prevent the user's pant bottoms fromcontacting the floor while seated on the toilet, even though suchcontact may cause the user's clothing to grind against a floor that mayhave been dirtied from the user's own shoes when entering therein, ormay have been inadvertently soiled by a previous user of the stall, ormay have been subject to waste water overflowing from a neighboringtoilet. While several inventions heretofore have focused on thecleanliness of a public restroom stall, as it pertains to the user'sposterior contacting a toilet seat, or for providing a shelf orhook/hanger to maintain the integrity of the user's possessions (books,papers, or coat) in a position removed from the floor, nothing to datehas similarly been devised to preserve the cleanliness of the userspants, even though they may be quite expensive and/or they may have justbeen serviced at the “cleaners.” This invention is directed to a quicklydeployable/stowable mechanical device that provides such protectionwhile using a public toilet.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide an easily and quicklydeployable means of protecting the slacks of the user of a publicrestroom toilet stall from the floor therein.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentfrom the following description and claims, and from the accompanyingdrawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention disclosed herein provides several embodiments of amechanical device that may be secured within the stall or to a wall of apublic restroom, to have an arm therein be deployed between his/her legsto be in proximity to the floor, to serve in supporting the person'sslacks or a woman's skirt, while using the toilet. The arm maintains theuser's slacks at a suitable distance away from the floor to prevent theslacks/skirt from contacting the floor, which quite often may be uncleanjust from ordinary foot traffic, particularly on rainy days. The floormay also have become soiled from a previous user of the stall havingurinated while standing. This invention enables the current user todeploy the mechanical device to protect his/her clothes while using thetoilet, and to quickly stow the device once finished, to be able toeasily exit from the stall.

One embodiment of the current invention may include a “valet” arm with afirst end having a mechanical connection with the stall door of thelavatory that permits the arm to be moveable between a stowed positionand a deployed position. The arm may pivot from the stowed position, inwhich a portion of the valet arm being distal from the mechanicalconnection with the stall door is nonetheless in proximity to the door,to the deployed position, in which at least a portion of the valet armis in proximity to a toilet therein to receive the user's slacksthereon. A stop may limit pivotal travel of the valet arm from thestowed position to be at the deployed position. The stop may be a rubberbumper that may serve as a “soft” stop, as it may be subjected to somedeformation by the weight of the arm and by the weight of the slacks.Alternatively, or in addition to the rubber stop, a pair of support armsmay each have one end be pivotally attached to a housing, with a secondend of the support arms being pivotally attached to the valet arm, toserve as a “hard” stop to positively limit pivotal travel of the valetarm at the deployed position. The valet arm may also have a sleeveslidably received thereon, which may be translatable between twopositions. The slidable sleeve being in the first position—a retractedposition—may more easily permit pivoting of the valet arm away from thestall door, without striking the user or impacting the positioning ofthe user within the stall, and thereatter, the sleeve may be extended tothe second position to be suitably located between the legs of theperson. An end of the sleeve (or the plain valet arm without a sleeve)may have a fixed or a pivotable slacks retention arm section extendingtherefrom that may serve to prevent the user's slacks from sliding offthe end of the angled valet arm/sleeve.

A slight variation of that embodiment may have that pivotable slacksretention arm section be disposed/deployed in a generally horizontalposition and be of a sufficient length to extend in closer proximity tothe toilet in the horizontal position, in order to receive the user'sslacks comfortably thereon without them having any tendency towardssliding off. In this embodiment, the pivotable slacks retention armsection may serve as the “valet” arm that receives the user's slacksthereon, and the arm that is pivotally connected to the stall, which maythen be referred to as the “main” arm, may just serve to assist inpositioning the pivotable “valet” arm section in proximity to thetoilet. A sleeve may also be received on the pivotable “valet” armsection to provide incremental adjustability for the reach providedtowards the toilet, to account for differences in various toilet stallconfigurations for different stall door-to-toilet distances. Thepivotable “valet” arm section and sleeve may be pivoted together toretract into the main arm, which itself may retract into the housing, inthe stowed position, and may be maintained therein using magnets, or alatch, or other retaining means. Each “arm” of the pair of support armsin this embodiment may include first and second arm sections that areslidable with respect to each other, and are normally biased into aretracted relation. When the main arm and pivotable valet arm sectionare moved into the deployed position, the pair of support arm sectionswill be biased to remain in the retracted relation by a spring. If theuser inadvertently steps on, or deliberately tries to stand on the arm,the slidable sets of support arms will extend as the spring biasing isovercome by the excessively large force, and may prevent damage to theunit. A roller on the bottom of the arm(s) may accommodate slidablecontact with the stall's floor. In this embodiment, a secondary jointmay be vertically oriented to permit the pivotable valet arm section toalso rotate with respect to the main arm, by rotating about a verticallyoriented axis. Also, the main arm may also have an analogous secondaryjoint to also permit its rotation about a vertical axis proximate to thestall door. Both of these secondary joints may serve to permit the armsto rotate away from a generally central, in-line position, if the userinadvertently kicks the unit. These joints permitting rotation about avertical axis may be biased to normally be restored back to the central,in-line position once the user has ceased applying a sideways force tothe arm(s). The pivotable valet arm section may have a plurality ofpeelable anti-microbial cover sheet layers stacked on a top surface toprovide a hygienic contact surface for the slacks for successive user'sof the slacks valet.

Another embodiment of the current invention may further include springbiasing and a catch that may be triggered to cause automatic retractionof the arms of the mechanism back into the housing. A handle may beprovided to cause extension of the arms therefrom, and engagement of thecatch. Release of the catch may be by a button located on the housing ofthe unit. In addition, the knob that is used to actuate the latch of thestall door may be wired to the catch, so that if a user seeks to egressfrom the stall without first raising the slacks valet mechanism, whichcould result in damage to the device and possibly prevent the stall doorfrom opening fully, the catch will be tripped to cause the device'sautomatic retraction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 an enlarged side view of a public restroom stall, with a toilettherein, and with a first embodiment of the slacks valet of the currentinvention installed on the stall door, and being shown in the stowed andthe deployed positions.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a public restroom stall, with a toilet therein,and with a second embodiment of the slacks valet mechanism of thecurrent invention installed on the stall door, and being showed in thestowed position.

FIG. 3 is a view looking at the stall door-mounted slacks valetmechanism of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is the slacks valet mechanism of FIG. 2, but shown with the armhaving been pivoted away from the stowed position against the stalldoor.

FIG. 5 is the slacks valet mechanism of FIG. 4, but shown in the fullydeployed position, with a sleeve on the arm having been extended to bein close proximity with the toilet bowl, and with a pivotable armsection thereon having been pivoted up toward the toilet to prevent auser's slacks from inadvertently sliding down off of the angled sleeve.

FIG. 5A is the slacks valet mechanism of FIG. 5.

FIG. 5B is an enlarged detail view of the hinging of the arm of theslacks valet mechanism of FIG. 5, to the stall door.

FIG. 5C is an enlarged detail view of the pivotable arm section of theslacks valet mechanism of FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 is a side view of a public restroom stall, with a toilet therein,and with a third embodiment of the slacks valet mechanism of the currentinvention installed on the stall door, and being shown in the deployedposition.

FIG. 7 is the side view of FIG. 6, with the stall door-mounted slacksvalet embodiment therein being shown enlarged.

FIG. 8 is a top view of the stall door-mounted slacks valet embodimentof FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view through the sleeve and pivotable armsection of the slacks valet embodiment of FIG. 7.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged detail view of one of the sets of support arms ofthe slacks valet embodiment of FIG. 7.

FIG. 10A is a view showing the set of support arms of FIG. 10,accompanied by an exploded view of the component parts of that supportarm set.

FIG. 10B is a view showing an alternate embodiment of support armsusable with the slack valet mechanism of FIG. 7, accompanied by anexploded view of the component parts of that alternate support arm set.

FIG. 11 is cross-sectional view through the set of support arms of FIG.10.

FIG. 12 is an enlarged detail view of the point between the main arm andthe pivotable arm section of the slacks valet embodiment of FIG. 7, justprior to the pivotable arm section being fully pivoted into the deployedposition.

FIG. 13 is a top view of the slacks valet embodiment of FIG. 7, shownwith the main arm having been rotated counter-clockwise with respect tothe housing, and with the pivotable arm section and sleeve having beenrotated clockwise with respect to the main arm.

FIG. 14 is the side view of the slacks valet embodiment of FIG. 7, butshown with the pivotable arm section having been pivoted to be nestedwithin the main arm.

FIG. 15 is the side view of FIG. 14, but shown with the main arm andnested pivotable arm section after having been rotated to be nestedwithin the housing.

FIG. 16 is the side view of FIG. 15, but shown as a non-transparentview, to highlight the clearance of the stowed mechanism relative to thetoilet, and relative to the area of the floor needed by the user foringress/egress into/out from the stall.

FIG. 17 is an enlarged side view of a public restroom stall, with atoilet therein, and with a fourth embodiment of the slacks valetmechanism of the current invention installed on the stall door, andbeing shown in the deployed position.

FIG. 18 is the slacks valet mechanism of FIG. 17, shown with the firstand second arm sections in both the deployed position and in a positionin which they are initially being retracted to prepare the mechanism forits translation into the stowed position within the housing.

FIG. 18A is an enlarged cross-sectional view through the wheel at thesecond end of the second arm of FIG. 18.

FIG. 18B is an enlarged cross-sectional view through the pivotalconnection between the first and second arms, as seen in FIG. 18.

FIG. 18C is an enlarged detail view of the spring biased stop pin forreleasably inhibiting vertical travel of the arm holder of FIG. 18,shown with the arm holder displaced downward from the pin, prior tobeing elevated into contact with the outwardly biased pin.

FIG. 19 is the slacks valet mechanism of FIG. 18, but only showing thefirst and second arm sections initially being retracted to prepare themechanism for its translation into the stowed position.

FIG. 20 is the slacks valet mechanism of FIG. 19, but shown with thefirst arm section having completed its pivotal movement in preparationfor translation into the stowed position, with the second arm section inits normally biased outwardly angled position with respect to the firstarm section, and with the first and second arm sections and the rollerof the arm holder having translated vertically to just be clear of thefloor.

FIG. 20A is an enlarged detail view FIG. 20, shown with the first armhaving been retracted to nest within the arm holder and depress the stoppin, to permit the arm holder to subsequently translate upward into thestowed position.

FIG. 21 is the slacks valet mechanism of FIG. 20, but shown with thefirst and second arm sections and the roller of the arm holder havingtranslated vertically, so that the outwardly biased second arm sectionis contacting the housing roller that serves to counter the outwardbiasing of the second arm section to cause pivoting of the second armsection, for it to become nested within the first arm section.

FIG. 22 is the slacks valet mechanism of FIG. 21, but shown with secondarm section fully pivoted to be nested within the first arm section, andwith both arm sections and the arm holder having been translated to bestowed within the housing.

FIG. 22A is an enlarged detail view of the spring biased stop pin forreleasably inhibiting vertical travel of the arm holder of FIG. 22,shown with a flange of the arm holder depressing the pin, after havingbeen contacted and depressed by the first arm, which permitted the armholder to translate upward into the stowed position.

FIG. 23 is the slacks valet mechanism of FIG. 17, but shown with alavatory stall door that is outfitted with a wired connection betweenthe knob of the stall door latch, and a catch of the slacks valetmechanism, which may thereby be triggered to cause automatic retractionof the arm sections and arm holder back into the housing, to be in thestowed position.

FIG. 24 is a front view of a lavatory stall door and slacks valetmechanism of FIG. 23.

FIG. 25 shows a side view of a user seated upon a toilet, and with theuser's lowered slacks being draped upon the arm of the slacks valetdevice shown therein, being thereby protected from contact with therestroom floor.

FIG. 26 is a front view of the user's slacks lowered upon the slacksvalet device of FIG. 25.

FIG. 27 a side view of a public restroom stall, which has an embodimentof the slacks valet of the present invention installed therein, in whichthe device is mounted to the wall of the stall, or which may be mountedto the wall of a restroom which does not have a conventional stall.

FIG. 28 is a view looking at the inside of the door of the stall in FIG.27, with the slacks valet device mounted to a side wall of the stall.

FIG. 29 is a side view of the embodiment of the door-mounted slacksvalet device shown generally in FIG. 25.

FIG. 30 is a side view of another embodiment of the slacks valet deviceof the present invention, with the device shown in the deployedposition.

FIG. 31 is the side view of the device of FIG. 30, but with the arm ofthe device shown in the process of being moved by the user between thestowed and deployed positions.

FIG. 32 is the side view of the device of FIG. 30, but with the arm ofthe device shown in the stowed position.

FIG. 33 is a side view of yet another embodiment of the slacks valetdevice of the present invention, with the device shown in the deployedposition.

FIG. 34 is the slack valets device of FIG. 33, but shown in a retractedposition.

FIG. 35 is an enlarged detail view of the slacks valet device shown inFIG. 33.

FIG. 36 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the replaceable cartridgeshown in the slacks valet device of FIG. 35.

FIG. 36A is an end view of the cartridge of FIG. 36.

FIG. 36B is a cross-section view through the cartridge of FIG. 36.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As used throughout this specification, the word “may” is used in apermissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather thanthe mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words“include”, “including”, and “includes” mean including but not limitedto.

The phrases “at least one”, “one or more”, and “and/or” are open-endedexpressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. Forexample, each of the expressions “at least one of A, B and C”, “one ormore of A, B, and C”, and “A, B, and/or C” mean all of the followingpossible combinations: A alone; or B alone; or C alone; or A and Btogether; or A and C together, or B and C together; or A, B and Ctogether.

Also, all references (e.g., patents, published patent applications, andnon-patent literature) that are cited within this document areincorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

Furthermore, the described features, advantages, and characteristics ofany particular embodiment disclosed herein, may be combined in anysuitable manner with any of the other embodiments disclosed herein.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention—slacks valetmechanism 110. The slacks valet mechanism 110 may be mounted to the doorof a lavatory stall, and could also be mounted to a wall of the lavatorywhere it may function in a similar manner. The slacks valet 110 is abasic embodiment, which principally overcomes the problems encounteredwhen attempting to provide protection to a user's slacks when the userseeks to utilize the toilet in a public lavatory stall.

There are a number of problems that each of the mechanisms herein mustovercome in order to be functional in a deployed position, while lendingitself to quick and convenient stowage in a minimally invasive volume,because such lavatory stalls are generally very compact. The stowedmechanism must not impinge upon the stall door's cycle of rotation fromits closed position to its full open position. While in the openposition, the door may remain slightly displaced from the wall of thestall by contact of a combination stop/coat hanger with a stall wall, tothereat permit the user to freely ingress into and egress out from thespace in the stall. The mechanism also must not unreasonably impair theability of the user to move within the small space, particularly when itbecomes necessary to bend over to lower his/her trousers/skirt, at whichtime the deployed mechanism normally will need to occupy the spacebetween the user's legs and be in reasonably close proximity to thetoilet, to protect the slacks/skirt from the floor, but the device alsomust not interfere with the person's motion in being seated on thetoilet, or his/her motion in arising from the seated position to bestanding once again, or prevent raising of their garment, as he/sheprepares to egress from the stall. In addition, when the device isdeployed it must be in reasonably close proximity to the ground, so asnot to interfere with the user's freedom of leg movement that mayotherwise be obstructed by their slacks being supported up near theirknees.

The slacks valet mechanism 110 may include a first arm portion 111 thatmay have a rigid transition portion 113 into a second arm portion 112,which may be at an angle to first arm portion 111. A bracket 120 may befixedly secured at a generally central position on the stall door 15using any suitable fastener arrangement and type, including, but notlimited to, screws. The first arm portion 111 may be pivotally mountedto bracket 120 using any suitable, pinned arrangement. Merely to beexemplary, the end of first arm portion 111 may terminate in a tongue111T, which may have a hole therein, and which may be received betweenthe prongs of a clevis on bracket 120, and be pivotally secured theretousing a bolt through holes in the prongs and through the hole in thetongue, with the bolt being secured thereto using a lock washer and anut.

The downward pivotal travel of first arm portion 111 may be limited tothe position shown in FIG. 1 by the use of a stop 120S. Stop 120S may bemechanically attached to bracket 120, or be integrally formed therewith.In one embodiment, the stop 120S may be formed of a rigid material,which may serve as a “hard” stop, by preventing any further pivotalmovement by the arm portions, once arm portion 111 contacts the stop. Inanother embodiment, stop 120S may be a separate part that may be formedof hard rubber or another elastomeric material, that may experience somedeformation once contacted by arm portion 111. This may serve to preventdamage to the arm portion 111 and/or bracket 120, in case the arm isinadvertently leaned on, perhaps when the user bends over to retrieveand lift his/her slacks.

The free end of arm portion 112, being distal from transition portion113, may have a protrusion 112P extend generally orthogonally away fromthe arm, to help prevent the user's slacks from slipping off the end ofthe arm portion. The arm portion 112 could be lengthened to extendfurther towards the toilet 20 to better negate the consequences of suchsliding of the user's slacks (potential contact with the floor), but theextended length may tend to obstruct movement of the arm portion 112past the bowl portion 22 of toilet 20. The protrusion 112P may have ahook portion 112H which may be used in combination with a latch on thestall door to secure the arm in the upwardly disposed, “stowed”position. Instead of the hook portion 112H and latch, magnets may beused to releasably retain the arm in the stowed position.

The degree of the angular relationship utilized between arm portion 111and arm portion 112 may be minimized by locating the bracket 120 on thelowest portion of the stall door, which normally is roughly one footabove of the stall floor 10. Having the second arm portion 112 beroughly parallel to the floor 10 of the stall is desirable to reduce thetendency of the user's slacks to slide off of arm portion 112, evenwhere protrusion 112P has been utilized. Although a longer lengthprotrusion 112P may be used in that effort, the longer the length of theprotrusion, the more the transition portion 113 will need to intrudeinto the volume of the stall, when the device is in the stowed position,which the user might accidentally tend to hit with his/her head whenthey bend over. This is a consideration, because not every user of thestall may necessarily feel inclined to utilize the device on everyoccasion, despite its advantageous nature, particularly someone who maybe working outdoors and may be wearing work clothing that is alreadysoiled, instead of dress slacks or an expensive suit.

Therefore, the amount that the transition portion 113 intrudes into thestall may be reduced by lessening the degree of the angular relationshiputilized between arm portion 111 and arm portion 112, but with the abovenoted tradeoff as to retention of the user's slacks. One other tradeoffto be noted, in relation to having the length of the arm portion 112being configured to be in closer proximity to toilet 20, is that thelonger are the arm portions 111 and 112, the more awkward may be theuser's experience in seeking to move the arm from the stowed position toits deployed position between their legs, which may require the user toback over and straddle the toilet, to be clear of the arm so as not bestruck by its movement, or may require the user to step to the side ofthe compact stall during its travel and to subsequently step over andstraddle the arm portion 112.

So, while the basic slacks valet mechanism 110 may be functional interms of satisfying the requirements for stowage and deployment, theabove factors create a tension between making modifications to it formore elegant satisfaction of the initially stated problems, in order toprovide a higher level of utility for the user within the lavatorystall. Therefore, greater utility may be provided by the secondembodiment of the slacks valet mechanism of the current invention, whichis shown in the stowed position in FIGS. 2 and 3.

As seen in FIG. 3, the slacks valet mechanism 210 may be positioned onthe lower portion of the stall door 15, and, as mentioned earlier, itmay generally be centered laterally on the door. However, it should benoted that, during the installation of the mechanism onto the stall door15, the primary concern is not that it be centered on the door, butrather that it be mounted so that it extends to be generally centeredupon the toilet itself, which may be slightly off center with respect tothe door, depending on the layout and construction of the stall. Itshould be further noted that when the mechanism is mounted within anoversized stall that is configured to also be used by a person who iswheel-chair bound, that the device may be mounted on a wall of such astall, instead of its door.

In FIG. 4, an arm 211 of the slacks valet mechanism 210 is shown rotateddown and away from mounting bracket 220 until it contacts a stop 220S onthe bracket. Stop 220S may be configured to be the “soft” stop or the“hard” stop previously discussed in regard to the slacks valet mechanism110. In addition to, or instead of using stop 220S, a pair of supportarms 230A/230B may each have one end be pivotally attached to the sidewalls of bracket 220, and may also each have a second end be pivotallyattached to the arm 211. Where the support arms 230A/230B are used incombination with a flexible “soft” stop 220S, they may be configured sothat they provide rigid support for the arm after the soft stop has beendeformed somewhat, and may themselves thereafter serve as a hard stop tolimit any further downward pivoting of the arm 211.

The lower ends of each of the support arms 230A/230B that are pivotallyattached to the arm 211 may be so attached using a simple pivotableconnection, whereby a pin, or a bolt, etc., may be received through ahole in the support arm 230A, through a hole in the tongue portion 211Tof arm 211, and then through a hole in the support arm 230B, and may besecured thereat (e.g., using a nut). The upper pivotal attachment of thesupport arms 230A/230B to the walls of the bracket 220 may be throughthe use of a slotted hole 231 in each of the support arms, and a roundhole in each of the bracket 220 side walls. As seen in FIG. 5B, theslotted hole 231 would permit translation of the upper end of thesupport arms relative to the mounting bracket 220, in addition to anynecessary rotation about the pin 232. The slot would need to extend farenough toward the middle of each of the support arms 230A/230B, so asnot to limit upward travel of the support arms by contact with the pin232, when the arm 211 is being pivoted into the stowed position.

Conversely, the upward extent of the slot, and also the length of thearms 230A/230B, may be configured so that the top of the slotted holedoes contact the pin 232, to limit downward travel of the support arms,and therefore also limits downward travel of arm 211, which may occurafter a measured amount of deformation of stop 220S has occurred. Wherea hard stop 220S is used to limit travel of arm 211, the support arms230A/230B may be configured to also limit such travel, but which maypreferably occur just as the stop 220S is contacted by arm 211, if notimmediately before, to thereby reduce the bearing stresses caused withinthe hinge pin used for pivotal mounting of the arm 211 to the mountingbracket 220, which may serve to reduce the required local wall thicknessof bracket 220.

A sleeve 212 may be slidably disposed upon arm 211, and may beconfigured to slidably travel from a position in which the sleeve isretracted (FIG. 4), so that a substantial portion of arm 211 is nestedwithin the sleeve (the sleeve is drawn up over the arm toward the stalldoor), to a position in which the sleeve is extended into the stall tobe in proximity to the toilet 20 (FIG. 5). To provide for stability forthe sleeve 212, which must adequately support the user's slacks whenlowered thereon, as well as any other incidental contact, the sleeve maypreferably have sufficient length so that when it is extended, asufficient but modest portion 213 of arm 211 may still be nestedtherein. Portion 213 may thereby serve as a joint for theinterconnection between arm 211 and sleeve 212, and may besized/configured with closer tolerances between those parts for a smoothsliding fit. A stop may be used to limit this sliding travel of thesleeve 212 relative to the arm 211.

The end of sleeve 212 may have a pivotable arm section 215 connected toand extending therefrom that may serve to prevent the user's slacks fromsliding off the end of the angled sleeve. The pivotable arm section 215may be pivoted to be flush against the sleeve 212, as seen in FIG. 4, sothat the slacks valet mechanism 210 can be moved into the stowedposition, or it may be pivoted, once the sleeve has been extended (oreven prior to its extension) to protrude away from the sleeve 212 at anangle to the axial direction 212A of the sleeve, as seen in FIGS. 5 and5B. The pivotable arm section 215 may extend orthogonally away from thesleeve 212. A stop may be used to limit pivotal travel of the armsection 215, as seen in FIG. 5C.

The arm 211 and sleeve 212 may each be made of a metallic material, ormay be made of wood, or may be formed of a suitable plastic material inorder to be light-weight, so as to not negatively impact the stall doorsupports when the slacks valet mechanism is retrofitted onto an existingstall door. To create sufficient strength for the arm 211 when it isformed of plastic, which may also desirably permit a certain amount offlexure, a truss or framework of integrally formed stiffeners may beutilized, as seen in FIG. 5. The sleeve 212 may be any shape that mayencompass the arm 211. Where the truss of arm 211 is formed with anelongated rectangular upper plate, an elongated rectangular lower plate,and with the stiffeners spanning therebetween, possibly with an integralshear web positioned along its mid-plane such that the stiffenersextending outward therefrom, to thereby form a generallyrectangular-shaped envelope for its cross-section, the sleeve 212 may beformed to have a hollow rectangular shape.

A handle 240 may be positioned on one side of the sleeve 212, as seen inFIGS. 2-5 and FIG. 5C, to more easily permit the user to disengage thearm 211/sleeve 212 combination from the means that serves to retain thedevice in the stowed position, such as the magnet 212M on the sleeve andthe corresponding magnet 15M on stall door 15 (or on housing 220, wherethe housing extends upward sufficiently).

Other utility may be provided by a third embodiment of the slacks valetmechanism of the current invention, which is shown in the extendedposition in FIG. 6. As seen in FIG. 6, the slacks valet mechanism 310may also be positioned on the lower portion of the stall door 15, andmay be secured thereto using fasteners that may attach the housing 320to the stall door. Slacks valet mechanism 310 may have a first arm 311that may be pivotally attached to the housing 320, which is seen in theenlarged view of FIG. 7. Instead of the first arm 311 being pivotallyattached directly to the walls of the housing 320, it may instead bepivotally mounted to a pin 315 that may be pivotally mounted to thebottom of housing 320. First arm 311 may be formed to have a channel asits cross-sectional shape, which may have a first end closed off by anend wall 311EW (FIG. 8), and from which may extent a tongue 311T. Thetongue 311T may be pivotally received in a clevis 315C on pin 315,using, for example, a bolt and a nut. The pin 315 may have a shaftportion 315S that may be pivotally received in a hole in a bottom wall320W of the housing 320. The end of the shaft of pin 315 may be threadedup to a shoulder that protrudes out beyond the bottom of housing wall320W, so that the external threads may be able to receive a lock nutthereon, without having the nut serving to clamp the pin to the housingwall, thereby permitting the pin to experience pivotal movement relativeto the housing, as well as a small amount of vertical travel in certaininstances. The top of housing wall 320W may, as seen in FIG. 7, beangled downward towards the toilet, with the portion of the pin 315below the clevis 315C terminating in another shoulder that has acorrespondingly angled surface that may normally be in contact with thetop of the wall 320W (e.g., when the arm 311 is in-line with thetoilet).

With this arrangement, the pivotal connection of the first arm 311 withthe clevis 315C of pin 315 may permit the arm 311 to pivot between thestowed and the deployed positions, while the pivotal connection of theshaft of pin 315 within the hole of housing wall 320W may further permitthe first arm 311 to rotate laterally within the stall, about a verticalaxis, as seen in FIG. 13. This lateral rotation would permit the arms ofthe slacks valet mechanism 310 to rotate away from its central, in-lineposition with the toilet, if the user inadvertently kicks the unit, withthe angled surface of pin 315 no longer then being in flush contact withthe angled surface of the top of the wall 320W, as the pin would beraised vertically upward by such rotation. However, this displacementmay serve to create a restoring (biasing) force, with the weight of thedeployed and displaced arms tending to be biased by gravity tocounter-rotate to restore the arms back to the original centralposition, once the user has ceased applying a sideways force to thearm(s). A smooth surface finish for the angled top surface of housingwall 320W and for the angled surface of contact for pin 315 may help tobetter accommodate this center biasing, by reducing frictional forcesthat may work against such sliding contact therebetween. A Teflon orother suitable coating may be applied to each of those faying surfacesto better promote sliding contact, to facilitate centering of thearm(s).

Just like slacks valet mechanism 210, pivoting of the arm 311 for slacksvalet mechanism 310 may similarly be limited by a pair of support arms.The same support arm arrangement used for limiting travel of arm 211 mayalso be used to limit travel of arm 311, or a couple of other supportarm arrangements may instead be advantageously used, as discussedhereinafter.

A simple support arm arrangement may consist of two pairs of upper andlower support anus, where the upper and lower support arms are pivotallyconnected to each other, with the upper end of the upper support armbeing pivotally connected to the housing, and with the lower end of thelower support arm being pivotally connected to the first arm 311. Thissimple support arm arrangement may analogously resemble the arms used tolimit spreading of the rails of a folding ladder. When the first arm 311is pivoted into its deployed position, this support arm arrangementwould serve as a hard stop and prevent any further pivoting by the arm311.

A slightly different support arm arrangement may instead be used toserve as a “soft” stop, to thereby accommodate incidental stepping ontothe arms by a user of the device. This alternative support armarrangement is shown in FIG. 7, in the enlarged view of FIG. 10, and inFIG. 10A, where its component parts are also illustrated separately. Thelower support arm 323 for each pair of support arms in this arrangementmay be a simple link, with mounting holes at each end. The upper portionof the arrangement may include an upper support arm member 321A/321Bwith flanges that form a track to receive a support arm member 322A/322Btherein, in a slidable relation (see FIG. 11). The upper support armmember 321A/321B and the slidable support arm member 322A/322B may eachhave a respective slotted opening (321S and 322S) oriented along itsaxial (lengthwise) direction. The lower end of the slotted opening 321Son the upper support arm member 321A/321B, and the upper end of theslotted opening 322S on the slidable support arm member 322A/322B mayeach have a respective post (321P and 322P) protruding into the slottedopenings (321S and 322S). With the support arm member 322A/322B beingslidably engaged within the track of the upper support arm member321A/321B, a compression spring 324 may be seated upon each of theposts, and may thereby bias the slidable support arm member to fullynest within the upper support arm. A flange 322F on the end of theslidable support member 322A/322B may limit the biased travel of theslidable support arm member relative to the upper support arm member321A/321B in the fully nested position, by contacting the upper end ofthe slotted opening 321S, as seen on the left-hand side of FIG. 10A.With the slidable support member 322A/322B engaged in this travellimiting position with respect to the upper support arm member321A/321B, through biasing of the compression spring 324, the uppersupport arm member and the slidable support arm member may generallybehave as a single unit, when pivotally connect with the lower supportarm 323, and as installed per FIG. 7. The arm 311 may be pivoted outwardfrom the stowed position, and the combination of the upper support armmember 321A/321B, the slidable support member 322A/322B, and the lowersupport arm member 323 will act similar to the simple support armarrangement that resembled the arms used to limit spreading of the railsof a folding ladder. The spring constant (K) of the compression spring324 need only be sufficient to provide biasing to overcome the weight ofthe mechanism and perhaps the weight of the user's slacks. But, if auser of the device inadvertently steps upon the arm 311 of themechanism, the applied force would overcome the spring biasing, and thearms would behave then as a “soft” stop and permit downward movement,which may serve to prevent damage to the device, as the support member322A/322B would slide downward in the track with respect to the uppersupport arm member 321A/321B. This support arm arrangement may also beused with the slacks valet mechanism 210.

Another alternative embodiment of the support arm arrangement may beseen by the assembled view and exploded view of its component partswithin FIG. 10A. This embodiment of the support arm arrangement mayinclude a pair of upper support arms 330A/330B, and a pair of lowersupport arms 331A/331B. The upper support arms 330A/330B may each havean upper end be pivotally mounted to respective side walls of housing320. The lower support arms 331A/331B may each have a lower end bepivotally mounted to respective side walls of arm 311 (FIGS. 7-8). Thispivotal attachment of the lower end of support arm 331A/331B may be by apin through a hole in the lower end of the arm(s) and through a hole inthe walls of the arm 311. To provide adjustability for the angle of thedeployed arm 311 relative to the housing and adjustability of thedistance of its lower end from the floor, the pin may be a double-headedrivet, where the heads of each rivet (manufactured and/or bucked) are onopposite sides of the arms 331A/331B, with the shaft of the rivetpassing through the hole in the arms, so that the heads prevent therivet from being removed from the arms. The inner head of the rivet foreach arm may be respectively received through an oversized hole311H_(OS) in the walls 311 w _(i)/311 w _(ii) of the arm 311 (FIG. 7).The oversized hole 311H_(OS) in the walls 311 w _(i)/311 w _(ii) of thearm 311 may interconnect with a smaller hole 311H_(SM). After the innerhead of the rivets are respectively received through the oversized holes311H_(OS) in the walls 311 w _(i)/311 w _(ii) of the arm 311, the shaftof the rivet may be snapped into the smaller hole 311H_(SM), which maybe sized to be just sufficiently large enough to provide a clearance fitwith the shaft of the rivet. However, the interconnection between theoversized hole 311H_(OS) and the smaller hole 311H_(SM) may sized toprovide a slight interference fit with the diameter of the shaft of thepin, which may be overcome by the application of a small amount of forcebeing applied by a user's hand or suitable tools.

A series of these interconnected hole pairs (311H_(OS) and 311H_(SM))may be respectively distributed along the walls 311 w _(i)/311 w _(ii)of the arm 311, as seen in FIG. 7. A particular set of hole pairs(311H_(OS) and 311H_(SM)) in each of the walls 311 w _(i)/311 w _(ii) ofthe arm 311, for this pivotal attachment of the lower end of support arm331A/331B, may be selected to custom locate the end of the arm 311 indesirable proximity to floor 10, for a particular lavatory stall doorheight. Thus the interconnected hole pairs may serve to provideflexibility for the installation of the slacks valet mechanism 310 forvarious lavatory stall configurations.

In one arrangement of the nested pairs of support arms 330A/330B and331A/331B, slidable travel therebetween into the fully nested positionmay be limited by a protrusion on one of the arms, such as protrusion331A_(S)/331B_(S) on the lower support arms (FIG. 10), serving as a“hard” stop by engaging a portion of the upper support at the pointwhere slidable travel is to be limited (e.g., the relative positioningof the support arms as seen in FIG. 6). When it is necessary to move thearm 311 of slacks valet mechanism 310 into the stowed position, theupper and lower arms may simply nest even further, to accommodate theshortened distance between the respective pivotal ends of the upper andlower support arms, as seen in FIG. 15.

In another arrangement of the nested pairs of support arms 330A/330B and331A/331B, slidable travel therebetween is not limited by the “hard”stop formed by a protrusion, and may generally be controlled by aspring. In this embodiment, each of the upper support arms 330A/330B andthe lower support arms 331A/331B may have a slotted opening therein,being oriented along its axial (lengthwise) direction, as seen in FIG.10B. The upper support arms 331A/331B may each have a round hole thereinthat is located just above the end of its slotted opening, and the lowerarms 330A/330B may have a hole therein that is located just below itsslotted opening. When the upper support arms and the lower support armsare slidably engaged, a portion of the slotted holes of thecorresponding pairs of upper and lower support arms may overlap, andwhen the support arms are positioned as seen in FIG. 7 for the deployedposition, the upper end of the slot for the lower support arms 331A/331Bmay extend above and beyond the position of the round hole in the uppersupport arms 330A/330B, and the lower end of the slot for the uppersupport arms 330A/330B may extend below and beyond the position of theround hole in the lower support arms 331A/331B. As so positioned in FIG.7, a spring 340 may be received within the overlapping slotted openingsin the pairs of support arms, and may have an over-center loop at afirst end of the spring be received through the round hole above theslotted opening for the upper support arms 330A/330B, and may have anover-center loop at a second end of the spring be received through theround hole below the slotted opening for the lower support arm331A/331B. Once received into the holes, the over-center loops of thespring 340 may be crimped to close off the opening in the loop to havethe ends of the spring be secured thereto against dislodgment from themotion of the support arms. The spring may have a length configured suchthat it essentially has little or no stored energy (is neithercompressed nor extended from its nominal length) when the arm 311 ismaintained in the deployed position of FIG. 7. The spring may also beconfigured to have sufficient stiffness so that the weight of the devicemay cause negligible expansion of the spring in this position.

The spring may therefore provide a primary travel limiting position atwhich the arm 311 may be deployed to, where the spring may serve as a“soft” stop to generally limit travel of the arm to be as seen in FIG.7, but may also permit further travel under certain circumstances, suchas where the user may inadvertently or intentionally step upon the armsof the device. Whenever this may occur, the pivotally mounted ends ofthe support arms would be caused to move farther apart from each other,causing the round holes in the arms to move apart, thereby causing thespring 340 to be extended and store energy according to Hooke's Law(F=−kx). A roller 311R positioned on the bottom of arm 311 may preventdamage to the arm, and may provide rolling contact with the floor 10,particularly for the case where the stall door 15 is opened while thearm is pushed down against the floor. When the user removes their footfrom the arm(s) of the device to release the force applied thereto, thestored energy in spring 340 may cause the arms to return to the normaldeployed position of FIG. 7.

When the arm 311 is manually rotated from the deployed position of FIG.7 into the stowed position of FIG. 15, the pivotally mounted upper endsof the support arms 330A/330B and the pivotally mounted lower ends ofthe support arms 331A/331B are caused to move closer to each other,consequently causing the round holes in the respective arms to movecloser than they are in the normal deployed position, thereby causingthe spring 340 to be compressed, and to again store energy. Therefore,the spring utilized in this arrangement may be configured for dualfunctionality as it may act as both a tension spring and as acompression spring, with the coils being configured for such dual usage.(Note that one of skill in the mechanical arts would recognize thatother arrangements of the spring and support arms may be constructed toexclusively utilize only a tension spring or only a compression spring).

The pivotal mounting of the upper end of the upper support arms330A/330B is illustrated in FIG. 14, as being closer to the rear of thehousing 320 (nearer to stall door 15), than to the front of the housing.FIG. 15 shows that this mounting position results in the upper supportarms 330A/330B and lower support arms 331A/331B are both orientedgenerally vertically, when in the stowed position, and with the line offorce imposed by the stored energy of spring 340, when in that position,being disposed to the inside of (closer to the stall door than) thehorizontal axis for the pivotal mounting of the tongue 311T of arm 311to the clevis 315C of pin 315. Therefore, once the arm 311 has beenmoved into the stowed position, the spring works to bias the arm toremain in the stowed position. Use of a magnet, a latch, or other meansof securing the mechanism in the stowed position would therefore not benecessary, but may nonetheless be utilized for the sake of redundancy.

As seen in FIG. 7, the end of arm 311 being distal from its pivotalmounting with pin 315 may have a second arm section 312 be pivotallyattached thereto. The arm 312 may have a simple pivotal connection witharm 311, so that it may pivot to be nested within the walls 311 w_(i)/311 w _(ii) of the arm 311, as seen in FIG. 15. Pivoting of the arm312 may be limited to the deployed position by a stop, as seen in FIG.12, or instead a ratcheting arrangement may also be used, which may workin conjunction with the angular changes in the arm 311 that may occurthrough the use of the hole pairs (311H_(OS) and 311H_(SM)) in each ofthe walls 311 w _(i)/311 w _(ii) of the arm 311, to generally maintainthe arm 312 in the horizontal position.

In order to enable the arm 312 to also be able to rotate relative to avertical axis, similar to the way that arm 311 may both pivot and rotatethrough its connection with pin 315, the arm 312 may be rotatablymounted with respect to a swivel joint member 317, which may bepivotally mounted to the arm 311, as shown in detail in FIG. 12. (Itshould be noted that the terms “pivot” and “rotate” may be consideredinterchangeable; however, hereafter in this specification, the term“pivot” will generally be used to describe rotational/counter-rotationalmotion about an axis being orthogonal to the page for FIG. 12 formovement of the mechanism between the stowed and retracted position—upand down movement about a horizontal axis being on or parallel to thelavatory stall door and parallel to the stall floor; whereas the term“rotate” is generally used to describe rotational/counter-rotationalmotion about an axis running from the top of the page to the bottom ofthe page for FIG. 12—a vertical axis in the actual lavatory stall beinggenerally perpendicular to the stall floor). Therefore, this permits thearms 311 and 312 to deflect laterally, and to pivot even in oppositedirections (see e.g., FIG. 13—counter-clockwise rotation for arm 311 andclockwise rotation for arm 312), which may accommodate the user strikingthe side of the device, with the arms adjusting (rotating) to themovement of the user in the stall. The pairs of upper and lower supportarms 330A/330B and 331A/331B may offer some resistance to such lateralmovement of the arms; however, given the length of the arms when in thedeployed position and the slidable relation between the arms of eachpair, the resistance to lateral movement would normally be quite small.A torsion spring or other type of spring may be used to center bias thearm 312 with respect to the arm 311. Therefore, both the arm 311 and thearm 312 may be center biased so as to normally be in-line, to extendaway from the stall door, with the arm 311 being in proximity to thetoilet and generally centered therewith.

As may be seen from looking at FIG. 7, the arm 312 may extend to be insufficiently close proximity to the base of the toilet 20, so as toextend beyond the vertical edge 21E of the end of the toilet seat 21,but due to the location of the joint member 317, it may still be able topivot clear of the toilet while moving between the deployed and stowedpositions. To accommodate varying stall wall/door arrangements, such aswhere the door may be positioned farther away from the toilet, a sleeve313 may be slidably received on the arm 312. The sleeve may beconfigured to be incrementally extendable relative to arm 312, using adetent. For example, the sleeve 313 may have a series of holes in theside wall or walls, one of which (or one pair of which) may receive abiased detent pin that may extend outward from the arm. A spring biaseddetent pin may be used. Alternatively, a cut may be made in the sidewall(s) of the arm, possibly being the three-sided cut seen in FIG. 7,to form an elongated and flexible wall section 312F that may act like aleaf spring, and from which may protrude an integrally formed cylinder312P. The longer the length of the cut, the longer and more flexiblewill be the wall section 312F. As seen in FIG. 7 and FIG. 9, thecylinders 312P on each side wall of the arm 312 may be depressed toremove them from the corresponding holes in the sleeve, to allowmovement of the sleeve 313 closer to or farther away from the toilet 20.

FIG. 16 shows the slacks valet mechanism 310 in the stowed positionwithin housing 320. A cover member 311C may be integrally formed with orattached to arm 311 to have the base of the channel-shaped cross-sectionextend beyond the walls 311 w _(i)/311 w _(ii) of the arm 311 (FIG. 8),so that when the arms are pivoted into the stowed position (FIG. 16),the cover may butt against the front surface of the housing 320, or mayhave a portion be releasably received (be nested) therein. The cover311C being so positioned relative to the housing 320 may generallyprotect the mechanism from dust, dirt, etc.

A further means of providing hygienic support for the user's slacks inthe lavatory stall may be provided by having a plurality of peelableanti-microbial cover sheet layers 350 stacked on a top surface of thearm 312 or, where a sleeve is utilized, the cover-sheet layers may bestacked on a top surface of the sleeve 313 (FIGS. 7 and 9). The coversheet layers 350 may be stacked on a cardboard backing 351 that may beused to releasably secure the layers to the arm/sleeve, using a securingflange/member 313SM thereon, as seen in FIG. 12. The securing member313SM may crimp a portion of the cardboard to releasably retain itthereon. Alternatively, adhesive or another securing means may be usedto secure the stack of cover sheet layers. As a person enters the stalland moves the slacks valet mechanism 310 into the deployed position, theuser of the device my peel off the uppermost cover sheet layer anddispose of it in the toilet, to thereby expose a hygienic cover layeronto which he/she may lower his/her slacks.

FIG. 16 also shows a strap 360 that may have snap 361 on each end. Thestrap may wrap around the housing 320 to have the snaps be secured to acorresponding snap member 362 that is fixedly secured on the housing.The strap 360 may be used as a backup means of maintaining the mechanismin the stowed position, particularly for its transport. The strap may bestored on the housing by an extra corresponding male/female snap member362 located on the housing 320.

Other utility may be provided by a fourth embodiment of the slacks valetmechanism of the current invention, which is shown in the extendedposition in FIG. 17. Slacks valet mechanism 410 may provide differentmotion, in that its arms may generally deploy downward and outward froma housing, through translational and pivotal movements, to convenientlybecome positioned between the user's legs, by the simple downwardactuation of a handle.

As seen in FIGS. 17 and 18, the slacks valet mechanism 410 may also bepositioned on a lower portion of the stall door 15, and may be securedthereto using fasteners to attach the housing 420 to the stall door. Forslacks valet mechanism 410, the housing 420 may include, or may itselfform, a track to provide for the motion of an arm holder 425 that may beslidably installed therein.

The arm holder 425 may generally have a channel-shaped cross-section (abase with two side flanges extending from each end of the base), intowhich may nest a first arm 411 and a second arm 412. Each of the sideflanges of the channel-shaped arm holder 425 may have a pair of pins(426A/426B and 427A/427B) protruding outwardly therefrom, which may berespectively received in the slotted openings 421A/421B on oppositesides of the housing. Although the slotted openings 421A/421B that formthe track may formed to be in the outer wall of the housing, it may bepreferable that they instead be located in an interior wall or in aseparate track member, so as not to be visible from within the stall,and to also thereby not be susceptible to foreign objects being lodgedtherein, which might cause jamming of the mechanism or soiling of thearms. The arm holder 425 may thus be able to translate relative to thehousing—into its cavity or out therefrom—by its pins 426A/426B and427A/427B tracking within the slotted openings 421A/421B.

The first arm 411 may be pivotally attached to the arm holder 425 in anysuitable manner, including, for example, using a pin 411P that maysecure a tongue portion 411T of the first arm to the side flanges of thearm holder at its first end. The first arm 411 may also generally have achannel-shaped cross-section, other than the tongue 411T at its firstend. The second end of the first arm 411 may be configured forattachment of the second arm 412. The channel-shaped cross-section ofthe first arm 411 may transition to having just the pair of side flanges411 i and 411 ii extending from its second end, as seen in FIGS. 18 and18A, into which the first end of the second arm 412 may be pivotallymounted.

The second arm 412 may be formed with any cross-sectional shape thatcould nest within the interior of the channel of first arm 411, andcould therefore be just a rectangular block. However, for reducing itsweight and satisfying other design considerations, the second arm 412may also have a channel-shaped cross-section. The second end of arm 412may have a wheel 445 be rotatably mounted within the channel using pin443, so as to protrude slightly therefrom-protruding out somewhat fromthe bottom of the channel, and protruding outward somewhat from the endof the arm, the significance of which is discussed hereinafter withrespect to the deployment of the mechanism. (Note, rather than a wheel,a spherical ball bearing may alternatively be used). The first end ofthe second arm 412 may be pivotally attached to the pair of side flanges411 i and 411 ii of the second end of the first arm 411 using pin 442.The pins 442 and 443 may each be a simple bolt and nut combination, orthey may each be a bucked rivet-type fastener. However, to reduce theheight of the pin to better enable nesting as described hereinafter, thepins 442 and 443 may each have a shallow height shear-head on each side,and they may also be a two-piece pin arrangement, one of which may bethreadably received into the other (e.g., pins 442A/442B and 443A/443Bseen in the cross-sectional views of FIGS. 18A and 18B).

Since the wheel 445 may protrude out from the bottom of the channel ofsecond arm 412, thereby elevating it slightly off of the floor 10 of thelavatory stall, a means of support for the pivotable connection betweenthe first arm 411 and the second arm 412 may be provided, so that botharms may be similarly elevated at the same height above the floor atthat location. The means of support may be another wheel being rotatablymounted thereat, or the means of support may simply be the channelsection of the second arm 412 transitioning locally into a hollowrectangular cross-sectional shape, as seen in FIG. 18A. The bottom ofthat rectangular cross-sectional shape may be fitted with a plastic orrubber grommet 447 to lessen the abruptness of contact of the arms ofthe mechanism with the floor. Instead of, or in addition to, thegrommet, a spring may be used to cushion contact therebetween. Also, thesecond arm 412 may be biased in relation to the first arm 411 by atorsion spring mounted at the pivotal connection therebetween, so thatthe arms would normally seek to occupy the angled (partially nested)position seen in FIG. 18 (arms 411U and 412U), rather than the deployed,in-line position (arms 411 and 412) or the completely nested positionwhen the mechanism is stowed within the housing. Thus, the biasing forcewould naturally serve to counter the tendency toward abrupt contactbetween the grommet/arms and the floor.

The top of the second arm 412 may have a means of providing hygienicsupport for the user's slacks in the lavatory stall, such as the stackedplurality of peelable anti-microbial cover sheet layers 450 shown inFIG. 18, that were discussed previously.

The arm holder 425 may directly contact the floor 10, or a grommet mayinstead be used to cushion such contact therebetween, or a wheel 446 (ora spherical bearing) may be rotatably secured to the bottom of the armholder using a pin 444, to be capable of providing rolling contact withthe floor.

The slacks valet mechanism 410 seen in FIG. 18 serves to illustrate itshandle-driven manual deployment from the stowed position (FIG. 22), tothe deployed position (FIG. 17). A pair of support arms 430A/430B mayeach have one end be pivotally connected to the first arm 411, and mayeach have the other end be pivotally coupled to the connecting link 432.The connecting link 432 may have a pair of pins protruding outwardlythat may slidably engage in slotted openings 431A/431B that are formedsimilar to the slotted openings 421A/421B that slidably accommodate pins426A/426B and 427A/427B for the tracking of the arm holder 425. Theupper end of the connecting link 432 may have a pivotal connection withthe handle 435, which itself may have pins 436A/436B and 437A/437Bprotruding outwardly to be received within the slotted openings421A/421B to track therein. Note that alternative arrangements for thehandle and connecting link are possible, which may serve to eliminate atleast one of those pin sets, and moreover, the connecting link 432 andthe handle 435 could even be formed as a single part.

As the handle 435 is manually actuated towards the floor by the user tomove the device into the deployed position, such handle actuation mayrelease a catch that holds the mechanism in the stowed position, and thedownward handle motion may thereafter cause the connecting link 432 todrive the support arms 430A/430B, which in turn drive the first arm 411and second arm 412 downward, which thereby drives the arm holder 425downward. Downward travel of the arm holder 425 would be terminated uponcontact of the wheel 446 with the floor 10. Once the pivotally connectedends of the first arm 411 and second arm 412 reach the opening in thebottom of the front wall 420F of the housing 420 (see FIG. 21), they arefree to be driven by movement of the handle 435 towards their finalposition in the deployed mechanism state, which may be synchronized tohappen just as the wheel 446 of the arm holder 425 is about to contactthe floor 10. The aforementioned biasing of the second arm 412 withrespect to the first arm 411 may also serve to “spring” the second armout from its nested position within the first arm, which may in turntend to pull the first arm 411 out from its nested position within thearm holder 425. In addition to this outward springing of the first andsecond arms, or in lieu of such biasing, the eccentric alignment of thesupport arms 430A/430B with respect to the positioning of the first andsecond arms, when in the stowed or partially stowed position (see FIG.21), may serve to drive the first and second arms outwardly.

As the second arm 412 reaches its unbiased position with respect to thefirst arm 411, designated as arm 412U within FIG. 18, the weight of thesecond arm and the driving motion from the handle, through connectinglink 432 and the support arms 427A/427B, may cause the first arm tocontinue pivoting downward, such that the wheel 445 of the second armmay initially contact the floor 10 and begin rolling thereon. Continueddownward actuation of the handle 435 by the user may thereafter overcomethe biasing of the torsion spring, which would tend to restrain anyfurther parting of the arms, to cause further pivoting and separation ofthe first and second arms until the grommet 447 comes into contact withthe floor 10.

Retraction of the first and second arms 411 and 412 into the stowedposition may be achieved by upward actuation of the handle 435 by theuser. The arm holder 425 may be weighted to be slightly greater than thevertical component of force that is required to initially raise thefirst and second arms 411 and 412, by the force applied from supportarms 430A/430B. Being so balanced, the first and second arms may bedriven to retract and be nested within each other and within the armholder, without the arm holder prematurely translating vertically, whichcould result in the first arm 411 being hung up outside of the housingfront wall 420F and thereby obstructing proper sequenced movement of themechanism into the stowed position.

To further assure proper sequencing of the retraction and nesting of thefirst and second arms 411 and 412 within each other and within armholder 425, to occur prior to upward translation of the arm holder, andwithout also having to add weight unnecessarily to the arm holder, astop pin 460 may be spring biased to releasably inhibit the verticalmovement of the arm holder. As the user actuates the handle 435upwardly, which may tend to also raise the arm holder 425 in addition tothe first and second arms 411 and 412, a flange of the arm holder willcontact the pin 460 and thereby temporarily restrain the arm holder fromupward movement (see Figured 18C), so that the first and second arms canbecome partially nested within each other and within the arm holder,without having the first arm being caught upon the front housing wall420F. As the first and second arms become properly nested, a flange ofthe first arm will depress the pin 460 (FIGS. 20 and 20A), thereafterpermitting the sequenced upward travel of the arm holder with the nestedfirst and second arms therein. The outwardly biased second arm 412 maycontact a roller 423 that is rotatably attached in the opening at theend of the front housing wall 420F (FIG. 21), which works to overcomethe biasing, and to urge the second arm to further nest within the firstarm, as the arm holder rises, until reaching the stowed position (FIG.22), where it may be maintained by a catch that may be releasablycoupled to the handle.

Another improvement may be made to the slacks valet mechanism 410 tomake its retraction into the stowed position be fully automatic, by thepush of a button. A spring 440 may be used to upwardly bias the handleand to maintain the mechanism thereat instead of the catch securing thehandle. A rocker arm 465, as seen in FIG. 18C, may be actuated to pivotby the touch of a button that is exposed through a hole in housing 420,which may release a catch portion 465C of the rocker arm that mayotherwise restrain the upwardly biased movement of the handle. Once thecatch portion 465C of the rocker arm 465 is displaced to release thehandle 435, the spring biasing may actuate the handle 435 in the samemanner as previously described for the upward manual actuation by theuser. During the downward manual actuation of the handle 435 by theuser, the handle may contact the catch portion 465C and cause the rockerarm 465 to pivot, and temporarily displace the catch from it path oftravel. The rocker arm 465 may be biasing by a spring back to its normalposition so that the catch portion 465C may again releasably inhibit thehandle against upward travel, until the release button has been pushed.It should be noted that when the catch 465C of the rocker arm 465restrains the upward movement of the handle, and consequently themechanism, there should be a small gap between the flange of the armholder 425 and the biased stop pin 460 (see FIG. 18C), to again assureproper functioning of this automatic retraction sequence. During themanual downward deployment of the mechanism, if the flange of the armholder 435 were to release the stop pin 460 after the handle had movedpast the catch 465C of the rocker arm 465, then the upward biasing ofthe spring 440 would be inhibited by the stop pin 460 and not the catch465C, so toggling the button to move the rocker arm could not effectuateretraction of the mechanism. The user would need to manually retract thehandle 425 until the flange on the first arm 411 depressed the pin 460(i.e., manually causing retraction and nesting of the first and secondarms within the arm holder), to thereafter enable upward biasing, byspring 440, of the first and second arms and the arm holder.

Another improvement may be made to the slacks valet mechanism 410 tomake its retraction into the stowed position be fully automatic, even inthe instance where the user may attempt to egress from the stall, priorto either manually retracting the mechanism or manually triggeringautomatic retraction using the push button. As seen in FIGS. 23 and 24,the twistable door knob of the stall door 15 may initially be outfitted(or may later be retrofitted) with a special knob 15N that may provide aconnection with the catch portion 465C of the rocker arm 465, which mayinclude, but is not limited to, a steel cable 15S. One end of the cable15S may attach to a flange of the knob 15N, and the other end of thecable may be fixedly secured to the rocker arm 465 (FIG. 18C). Thenecessary turns in the cable 15S may be accommodated by pulleys,sectors, or quadrants, to prevent the cable from hanging up, such as thepulley located on the edge of the opening in the door 15, through whichthe cable must pass to reach the rocker arm 465. This arrangement of theknob 15N with cable 15S for the slacks valet mechanism 410 enablesautomatic retraction of the device, and prevention of damage thereto, inthe case where a user attempts to exit the stall without firstretracting the device, because as the user turns the knob 15N to unlockand open the stall door 15, the cable 15S will trigger the catch portion465C of rocker arm 465 and cause automatic retraction as describedpreviously, and prevent the device from impinging on another user withinan adjacent stall, or from impinging on other lavatory stall structure.

Note that the arm used for supporting the slacks may generally beparallel to the floor of the stall, but may be displaced therefrom byapproximately 1 to 10 inches.

The lavatory stall slacks valet 510 of FIG. 29 includes a housing 520,which may be secured to the door 15 of the stall using screws 501 orother mechanical fasteners. The housing 520 may provide a track for themotion of the slider support member 530 that may be slidably installedtherein. The slider support member 530 may be biased by a helical spring540 towards the top of the door to generally be in the non-deployed orstowed position. At the bottom of the slider support member 530 may besupport arm 550.

Support arm 550 may be pivotally attached to the bottom of the slidersupport member 530, to be moveable between the deployed or extendedposition, where the arm is generally parallel to the floor of the stall,but displaced therefrom by approximately 1 to 10 inches, and theretracted position (arm 550S), where the arm is generally perpendicularto the floor, and may be contacting the slider support member 530.Downward rotation of the support arm 550 may be limited by stops at thepivotal connection, and/or by the tension member 551. Support arm 550may have, at an end distal from the door, an adjustable member 552 thatis slidably connected with the support arm 550. There may be a detentthat secures the adjustable member 552 at any desirable positionrelative to the stall door, to be at an optimum distance from thetoilet. The adjustable member 552 may preferably have aclothing-friendly cloth covering 553 secured thereon, for contact withthe crotch of the user's slacks. Alternatively, or in addition, ahygienic peelable stack of disposable cover sheets may be securedthereon, so that a next user of the device may peel off the old cover tobe assured of having a clean surface (the next lower peelable layer) torest his/her slacks upon.

A handle may allow the user to slide the slider support member530/support arm 550 combination downward into position, where amechanical catch 560 on the support member 530 may engage acorresponding feature on the housing track 520 to oppose the springbiasing, when the arm is correctly positioned. As the slider supportmember 530/support arm 550 moves downward as a result of the useractuating the handle, the support arm 550 may exit from the protectiveshroud 525, and may gravity free-fall to the horizontal position. Thismotion may be slowed by the use of a damper so that the arm does notstrike the floor. The tension member 551 may comprise two members, onebeing flexible but generally inelastic in the axial direction, and asecond member that is elastically deformable and which may shorter, soas to require some deflection of the second member caused by the arm,for the arm to reach the horizontal position, deflection that may occuras a result of the weight of the arm.

Retraction of the support arm 550 may be by the user grasping it byhis/her hand to raise it up, or a foot pedal 555 may be secured to thearm so that the user may use his/her foot to raise up the arm. Once thearm reaches the vertical position, a protrusion 557 may engage andrelease the catch 560, so that the slider support member 530/support arm550 combination will then be biased vertically by spring 540, with thecloth covering 553 of the adjustable member 552 translating upward to bewithin the shroud. The cloth covering 553 may contact a correspondingcloth member 553C secured therein, which may serve as a wiper to cleanany dirt or lint from the cloth 553 that is to contact the user'sslacks. Use of the peelable hygienic layers may obviate the need for thewiper.

To help protect the user of the stall from accidentally tripping, byinadvertently trying to egress from the stall before retracting thedevice, the bottom of the support member 530 may have a center biasedpivotal connection 558, and a central portion of the support arm 550 mayalso contain a centrally biased pivotal connection 559. This biasing maybe provided by one of several different means, including a torsionspring. So, if the user moves his foot and leg, and contacts the arm550, it may pivot at two different locations to generally yield to theuser's movements, and not be a stiff obstacle that could cause him/herto lose his balance within the stall. A placard may also become visiblewhen the arm is deployed, so that as the user reaches to raise his/herslacks, a warning may be visibly provided to the user to remind him/herto raise the arm before attempting to egress from the stall, to furtherprevent an accident.

A lavatory stall slack valet 610 is shown in FIG. 30. Slack valet 610provides different motion, in which the arm deploys generally downward,and then also rotates to become positioned between the user's legs. Thismotion may be provided by several different mechanical arrangements. Inone such arrangement, a pair of pins, 650A and 650B, protruding from arm650 may be received in separate tracks 620A and 620B of housing 620. Aslider bar 675 within the housing may be connected to a handle 695. Asthe user raises the handle, the slider drives the arm 650 vertically,with the pins 620A and 620B tracking respectively in tracks 620A and620B. The track 620B may be vertical, but the track 620A maystrategically wander toward the track 620B, so that, as seen in FIG. 31,the arm's positioning begins to transition to have a downward angleduring a mid-position between being stowed and fully-deployed. Thestowed position is shown in FIG. 32. The track's curvature may thus becrafted so that during deployment, the arm gracefully drops down andthen slowly angles in a scooping motion to be straddled by the user'slegs, and does not need to come close to the user's torso during itsmovement, which may otherwise occur if only pivotal motion is used forthe arm's motion.

A lavatory stall slacks valet 710 is shown in FIG. 33. The slacks valet710 may be formed similar to one or more of the other embodimentsdisclosed herein. The slacks valet 710 may include a first arm 711pivotally coupled to a second arm 712. The distal end of the first arm711 may have a roller 711R rotatably coupled thereto, which may be usedfor rolling contact with the floor of the lavatory during deployment ofthe arms, and may also be used for rolling contact with a bottom wall714 of housing 715 while the arms egress therefrom. During movement ofthe arms 711/712 between the stowed and deployed positions, they may besupported by a spring biased roller 713 that may be rotatably mounted tothe housing 715. The relative positioning of the first arm 711 withrespect to the second arm 712, as shown in FIG. 33, may be assistedthrough the use of a torsion spring 713, the ends of which may attach toeach of the arms.

The slacks valet device 710 may also include a replaceable cartridge 720that may be releasably securable to the first arm 711. The replaceablecartridge 720 may include a housing 725 with openings on each end (e.g.,see FIG. 36A) that may receive respective prongs (711A/711B) that mayprotrude from portions of the arm 711, one or which (e.g., prong 711B)may be pivotally mounted and spring biased to accomplish easyreplacement of the cartridge. Other methods of replaceable mounting ofthe cartridge that are known in the art may also be used in otherembodiments.

The replaceable cartridge 720 may further include a first reel 721 and asecond reel 722, each of which may be rotatably mounted to the housing725. The replaceable cartridge 720 may further include a hygienic tape726 that may have a first end in contact with or fixedly secured to thehub of the first reel 721, and which tape may be wound thereon, with asecond end of the tape secured to the second reel 722. The hygienic tapemay be formed of any suitable material, including, but not limited to, athin plastic film, and which may also be formed of an anti-microbialmaterial.

There may be an elongated opening in the housing 725 to expose one sideof a desired length L of the antimicrobial tape 726, while the otherside of the tape may be supported by a housing support wall 726S. Thewidth of the tape 726 may be wider than the width of the support wall726S (which may have a T-shaped cross-section), at least over the lengthL of the housing (see FIG. 36B) to ensure that a user's lowered slackcontact the tape and not an exposed upper portion of the housing 725 ofthe cartridge 720. Also, the cross-sectional width of the housing 725may also be narrowed over the length L of the exposed portion of thetape 726.

Just as the length of the arm 711 is significant, particularly as to itextending into close proximity to the front of the toilet, to preventthe user's slacks falling onto a soiled floor if/when the user may drawback his/her legs, so too is the exposed length L of tape 726, the endof which (proximate to the distal end of arm 711) may be positionedbeyond the vertical projection of the seat of the toilet (see FIG. 33),Although the length L of the exposed portion of tape 726 should beminimized to conserve such usage, it should nonetheless be sized tosupport the entire flattened portion of the wearer's slacks. In oneembodiment, the length L may be at least 5-6 inches, which may be aminimum that may be used to support most slack sizes, particularly ifthe person holds his/her legs spread apart to hold the lowered slackstaut, thus forming a narrowed profile. In another embodiment the lengthL is more preferably 7-9 inches, to accommodate larger sized slacks, andinstances where smaller sized slacks may not be held taut by thewearer's legs. In yet another embodiment, the length L of the exposedhygienic tape 726 portion may most preferably be between 10 inches and15 inches long to accommodate the larger slacks sizes of big and tallmen and women. Other exposed lengths L and length ranges for the tape726 may alternatively be used.

In one embodiment the user may manually advance the tape 726 by directlygrasping a portion of the tape. In another embodiment, the replaceablecartridge 720 may further include a lever arm 727 that may be mounted tothe housing 725 to be slidable in a track formed therein, and which armmay extend outward from a side wall of the cartridge housing 725, so asto not interfere with the positioning of the tape 726. The lever arm 727may be configured to cooperate with a chain or a belt 728 that may becoupled to one reel or to both reels 721/722, to drive the chain/belt inonly one direction using a ratchet-type arrangement (i.e., the end ofthe lever arm may hook onto the chain in only one direction, and sliderelative to it in the other direction), converting the linear motion ofthe slidable lever arm 727 into rotary motion of one or more of thereels, a hub portion of which may include a gear that may mesh with thechain. Such conversion of linear motion to rotary motion is known in themechanical arts (see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,445 Ballard). In anotherembodiment, the lever arm 727 may be formed into two pieces, with theinternal portion being pivotally coupled at 727P to the slidable outerportion of the lever arm, so that the pivotal portion of the arm maycontact protrusions 728P on the belt 728 and drive the belt in onedirection (i.e., the direction where it is prevented from pivoting), butmay deflect and simply move past the protrusions when sliding in theother direction. Any other suitable mechanical arrangement that mayaccomplish such advancement of the tape 726 in only one direction mayalternatively be used.

In one embodiment the user may simply grasp and move the outer portionof the slidable lever arm 727 to incrementally advance the tape 726. Theslidable lever arm 727 may preferably be configured to slide an amountthat would completely substitute an exposed and previously used length Lof the tape 726, which may be taken up on the second reel 712, with anunexposed portion of tape from the outer periphery of the first reel711. Thus, an unused length L of tape 726 may be supported by the arm711 for hygienic support of the user's slacks each time the arm iscycled into the deployed position.

In yet another embodiment, the slidable lever arm 727 and a lowerportion of the housing 715 of the device 710 may preferably co-actduring retraction of the arms 711/712, so that the lever arm is drivento advance the tape as it is being retracted into the device housing715. The lever arm may contact a protrusion 715P of the housing 715(FIG. 34) to arrest its movement as the remainder of the cartridge 720and the arm 711 are being withdrawn into the housing 715. Note theposition of the lever arm 727 in FIG. 34, as compared with its positionin FIG. 33.

The examples and descriptions provided herein merely illustrate certainembodiments of the present invention. Those skilled in the art andhaving the benefit of the present disclosure will appreciate thatfurther embodiments may be implemented with various changes within thescope of the present invention. Other modifications, substitutions,omissions and changes may be made in the design, size, materials used orproportions, operating conditions, assembly sequence, or arrangement orpositioning of elements and members of the preferred embodiment withoutdeparting from the spirit of this invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A slacks support device, for preventing theslacks worn by a user of a toilet in a lavatory enclosure from becomingsoiled, said device configured to provide support to prevent the loweredslacks from hanging down, to prevent contact with a floor within thelavatory enclosure, said slacks support device comprising: an arm havinga first end and a second end; a deployment mechanism secured to aportion of the lavatory enclosure, and configured to support said arm ina deployed position in relation to the toilet, and to provide selectivemotion of said arm to travel between said deployed position and a stowedposition where said arm is in proximity to the lavatory enclosure; acartridge comprising a first reel, a second reel, and a tape wound uponsaid first reel and having an end fixedly secured to said second reel;and means for releasably attaching said cartridge to said arm.
 2. Theslacks support device of claim 1, further comprising means forincrementally advancing an outermost portion of said tape on said firstreel to said second reel, for each cycle of said motion of said armbetween said deployed and stowed positions.
 3. A slacks support device,for preventing the slacks worn by a user of a toilet in a lavatoryenclosure from becoming soiled, said device configured to providesupport to prevent the lowered slacks from hanging down, to preventcontact with a floor within the lavatory enclosure, said slacks supportdevice comprising: an arm having a first end and a second end; and meansfor connecting said first end of said arm to a lower portion of thelavatory enclosure for moving between a stowed position and a deployedposition; said arm comprising a length, said length of said arm and saidmeans for connecting configured for said second end of said arm to be inproximity to the front of the toilet and at a height above the floorbeing below a top surface of a seat of the toilet, in said deployedposition; said stowed position comprising a position where said secondend of said arm has moved away from said proximity to the toilet, andinto proximity to the lavatory enclosure; said arm comprising a widthconfigured to fit between the legs of the user while standing, with saiddevice in said deployed position, to thereat provide support for theslacks to prevent the lowered slacks from hanging down, to preventcontact with the floor.